Verstappen takes his first Monaco Grand Prix pole, Alonso qualifies on the front row in Monaco for the first time in 16 years and De Vries records a career-best qualifying result. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix!
VERSTAPPEN ON POLE AT THE 2023 MONACO GRAND PRIX
Max Verstappen secured pole position for the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. Taking the 23rd pole of his Formula 1 career, Verstappen moved ahead of Fernando Alonso to 13th in the all-time list of most pole positions.
Verstappen is the 37th different driver to secure pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix in its history on the F1 calendar. This is Verstappen’s second front row qualification at the Monaco Grand Prix. He qualified second in 2021.
Red Bull become the fifth team to have taken six pole positions in Monaco.
Verstappen secured pole position for the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix by 0.084 seconds. It was the smallest pole margin seen in Monaco since 2017.
Having been fastest in all three qualifying sessions, Verstappen made this only the third time since 2009 that the driver who was fastest in Q1 has gone on to take pole at the Monaco Grand Prix. Verstappen is only the fourth driver to have been fastest in all three qualifying sessions in Monaco, after Felipe Massa in 2008, Daniel Ricciardo in 2018 and Charles Leclerc in 2022.
The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix is the second time in 2023, after the Australian Grand Prix, that Verstappen has taken pole position while his team-mate qualified in last place.
THE TOP 10
Fernando Alonso qualified in second place at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, recording his first front row start in Monaco since taking pole position in 2007. This is the 41st front row start of the Spaniard’s career.
This is the first time Alonso qualified on the front row at successive events since taking back-to-back poles at the 2012 British and German Grands Prix
Charles Leclerc qualified in third place for the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix but will drop to sixth on the final grid after being handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris. This is the first time since 2019 that Leclerc has failed to take pole position at his home race.
With fifth place, Carlos Sainz equalled his worst qualifying result of the season so far. Sainz is the only driver to qualify in the top five at every race to date in the 2023 season. He is also the only current driver to have reached Q3 on every appearance at the Monaco Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Webber, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg are the other drivers to have never missed out on Q3 here in their careers.
With both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell qualifying in the top ten, the Brackley-based team became the first to reach 30 Q3 appearances at the Monaco Grand Prix since the qualifying system was introduced in 2006.
For the first time this year, Alpine recorded double Q3 appearances at consecutive races. The last time the team did so was at the 2022 Mexico City and Sao Paulo Grands Prix.
With fourth place, Esteban Ocon recorded his best qualifying result of the 2023 season to date. It’s the second-best qualifying result of Ocon’s career. His only better result was his third place in qualifying at the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix. Ocon’s previous best qualifying result in Monaco also came in 2018, when he qualified sixth.
Lewis Hamilton qualified in sixth place for the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, recording his best qualifying result in Monaco since taking pole in 2019.
Making his 14th Q3 appearance at the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton moved ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the list of most Q3 appearances at Circuit de Monaco.
Qualifying in eighth, George Russell was out-qualified by a team-mate at the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time. This was the first time Lewis Hamilton out-qualified a team-mate in Monaco since 2019.
Yuki Tsunoda reached Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time. His previous best qualifying result here was 11th, which is where he qualified in 2022. Tsunoda recorded the AlphaTauri team’s second Q3 appearance of the 2023 season.
OUT IN Q2
For the fifth Monaco Grand Prix weekend in a row, one McLaren driver reached Q3 while the other was out in Q2. Oscar Piastri qualified in 11th place, recording the first Q2 elimination of his career.
Nyck de Vries qualified in 12th place, recording the best qualifying result of his career to date. It bettered the 13th place in which he qualified on his one-off appearance with Williams at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.
Alex Albon qualified in 13th place, meaning that Pastor Maldonado remains the last Williams driver to reach Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix. He did so back in 2012.
Qualifying 14th, Lance Stroll maintains his record of having never reached Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix. His best qualifying result here remains 14th place in 2021.
Antonio Giovinazzi, in 2021, is the only Alfa Romeo/Sauber driver to reach Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix in the last 11 F1 races at Circuit de Monaco. Valtteri Bottas recorded the team’s best result in qualifying at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, with 15th place.
Bottas was eliminated in Q2 at the Monaco Grand Prix for a second consecutive year. He qualified 15th. It was his second worst qualifying result at the track; only his 17th place in 2015 was worse.
OUT IN Q1
Haas recorded their second double Q1 exit of the 2023 season and their second double Q1 exit in Monaco. Both of their drivers were also out in Q1 at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix.
With Kevin Magnussen qualifying 17th and Nico Hulkenberg 18th, Magnussen out-qualified Hulkenberg for a second consecutive race. It is the first time he has done so in 2023.
For Hulkenberg, this was his worst qualifying result of the 2023 season to date. It also marked the first time the German has been eliminated in Q1 at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Zhou Guanyu qualified 19th for the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, maintaining his 100% Q1 exit record in the principality. He qualified one position better than where he qualified in 2022.
After crashing at Ste Devote, Sergio Perez recorded Red Bull’s third Q1 exit at the Monaco Grand Prix. Max Verstappen recorded the team’s previous two Q1 exits at the track, having been out in Q1 in both 2016 and 2018. Christian Klien in 2006 and David Coulthard in 2007 are the only other Red Bull drivers who’ve failed to reach Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Perez has only ever recorded Q3 appearances or Q1 exits at the Monaco Grand Prix. This was the Mexican’s third Q1 exit in Monaco. He was also out in Q3 in 2012 and 2019.
